Pursuant to standing order 74(5), I ask the Minister representing the Minister for Communications and Minister for Sport for an explanation as to why 67 answers have not been provided to questions on notice asked during the budget estimates hearings of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee from 25 to 28 May 2026. The questions were to: the ABC—eight unanswered; ACMA—three unanswered; Australia Post—seven unanswered; Australian Sports Commission—one; the department—33 unanswered; Minister Wells—one unanswered; NBN Co—two unanswered; the eSafety Commissioner—six unanswered; and the SBS—six unanswered.

I wonder if the Senate could indulge me for one second because, in the last hour, Miss Ellen Nimfa Farrell Ben was born at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide. Ellen is the daughter of Emily Farrell and Lawrence Ben. She is our fourth grandchild, joining her cousins Edward, Flora and Leo, and mother and baby are doing well.

I'm happy to say congratulations, Senator Farrell, but we probably should return to the matter at hand.

I thank Senator Henderson for her indulgence. The Albanese government is delivering a higher standard of integrity, transparency and accountability. I make the general point that the numbers of Senate estimates questions on notice, parliamentary questions on notice and orders for the production of documents all skyrocketed in the 47th parliament, and this trend is continuing in the 48th parliament. There were 14,404 questions on notice submitted for the budget estimates round in May. That is the highest figure in a single round since the database was established. As I'm sure the senator appreciates, there have been high volumes of questions across various committee inquiries in the communications portfolios since questions the senator refers to were lodged. We always endeavour to answer all questions as per the timeframe set forward by the Senate and will work to finalise outstanding responses.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

I have to say that, while I congratulate the minister on his wonderful news of a new family arrival, I am very disappointed by that response because these are incredibly important questions, including in relation to the Online Safety Act amendment bill which is currently before the Senate. How can members and senators be expected to do their jobs when critical questions are not answered? I would put to you that, rather than the volume of questions being the issue, what's at issue is that the government is embarrassed to answer the questions.

Some of those questions, for instance, relate to advice that the eSafety Commissioner has given to Minister Wells since July 2025 on various proposals in relation to child online safety and the operation and enforcement of the social media ban. We have sought further correspondence in relation to the false claim by both the Prime Minister and the minister that more than five million social media accounts have been removed or deactivated since December last year. We know that at least two million—probably more—of those accounts were actually not social media accounts at all. They were Google accounts relating to Gmail, because, of course, anyone who uses YouTube does not have a separate YouTube account. So the Prime Minister continues to mislead Australians in relation to the government's claim, and he did it again today in his media conference. We've also sought details in relation to the eSafety Commissioner's statements to a Sydney Morning Herald journalist during an infamous lunch interview in which she broadly condemned the social media ban and the government's operation and enforcement of the social media ban.

The evidence is compelling; this government is hiding critical facts that we need to do our jobs. So, when we hear about transparency and integrity from this government—what an absolute joke! We have asked extensive questions of the department. Again, 33 of those remain unanswered. We have a hearing tomorrow and have called Australia Post to that hearing in relation to a secret plan to shut down post offices across this country. Australia Post has not answered a number of questions. Again, that is simply not good enough.

So I say this government must do much better. How can we do our job when these questions are not being answered? We are also still waiting for a wide range of questions to be answered following our Senate inquiry into the actual bill, which were due back on 19 August. They too have not been answered, yet the bill which is the subject of our inquiry is before the Senate right now, being debated. This is simply not good enough.

Question agreed to.